Kinds Of Strength Research Articles

Strain Rate Effect on Mechanical Properties of Cemented Backfill under Dynamic and Static Combined Loading

In order to study the influence of pillar stopping blasting on the stability of cemented backfill, the dynamic impact test under low strain rate (61.1∼86.8 s−1) was conducted on cemented backfill with two kinds of strength using three-dimensional coupled static-dynamic SHPB equipment. At the same time, the strain rate effect of failure mode, dynamic strength factor, and energy transfer of backfill were analyzed. The results show that when the cemented backfill was loaded under different strain rates in the initial three-dimensional static pressure environment, the pore compaction process was no longer obvious but directly entered the elastic deformation stage. Within the range of strain rates, the extreme value of dynamic intensity factor (DIF) of CTB230 was 6.8, while the extreme value of dynamic intensity factor of CTB310 specimen did not appear within the range of strain rates due to the improvement of the internal cementation force between particles. The fracture surfaces of specimens were perpendicular to the direction of load, and the failure mode was mainly the axial tensile failure, and the fracture surfaces were mostly close to the loading end. According to energy calculation, reflected energy accounts for 80.4%∼86.6% of incident energy; dissipated energy, 5.5%∼14.3%; transmitted energy, 5.3%∼7.9%.

Application of Data Mining in the Analysis of Martial Arts Athlete Competition Skills and Tactics.

In martial arts, data mining technologies are used to describe and analyze the moves of athletes and changes in the process and sequences. Martial arts is a process in which athletes use all kinds of strengths and actions to make offensive and defensive changes according to the tactics of opponents. One such martial arts is Wushu arts as it has a long history in reference to Chinese martial arts. During the Wushu competition, Wushu athletes show their adaptability and technical level in complex, random, and nonlinear competitive abilities, organized and systematic skills, tactics, and position movement. Using data mining techniques, in-depth mining a particular type of martial arts competition technology and tactics behind statistical data, and using the data to find the law of change to solve some problems, for martial arts athletes in daily training to develop technology and tactics and improve competition results, is the practical significance of data mining in martial arts athletes competition. This research explored the relationship between goal-oriented and mental intensity and their effect on competitive success outcomes.

Audiovisual Rhetoric: The Montage Techniques and Artistic Effects of Jia Zhangke’s Movies

This article supplements the research methods of visual restoration rhetoric and montage theory. It analyzes the texts of Jia Zhangke’s many films, sorts out the details of the use of visual montage and audio-visual montage in Jia Zhangke’s films, and understands the visual and auditory senses accordingly. Through careful reading of the film text, this article believes that in Jia Zhangke’s films, the “feeling” such as audiovisual and audio-visual is a kind of strength, and montage exerts a rhetorical effect that strengthens artistic expression. The dislocation tension caused by the use of image rhetoric such as video montage and audio montage.

Mining the Gap: Analysis of Early Mathematics Instructional Quality in Pre-Kindergarten Classrooms

ABSTRACT Research Findings A total of 54 videotaped mathematics activity observations drawn from 27 different pre-kindergarten classrooms in an urban public schools system in the U.S. were coded using 2 observational measures: (a) a general measure, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS); and (b) a math-specific measure, the High Impact Strategies in Early Mathematics (HIS-EM). Criterion validity analysis revealed varying levels of convergent and discriminant patterns between the two tools. Indications of these results are twofold: (1) to some extend both tools document the similar aspects of quality of instruction (e.g., instructional support), and (2) a math-specific measure can be more sensitive to document the various levels of mathematics specific instructional support provided during teaching episodes (e.g., math representations, establishment of math learning communities). Results also indicated that the quality of mathematics instruction observed was revealed to be low to medium levels. Practice or Policy: Even though the CLASS may be a useful tool in terms of understanding overall instructional quality, as a subject-specific tool, the HIS-EM might offer a benefit of the multidimensional measure of mathematics teaching quality, which enables the researcher to pinpoint the kinds of strengths that teachers exhibited in math instruction and areas in need of improvement and may assist the field to better identify potential instructional areas to target with professional development.

P277 RV remodeling by echo parameters in endurance and strength sport training

Abstract Introduction With regular and long-term exercises, the heart undergoes changes that are called the adaptation of the heart in response to exercise or physiological changes, which contrasts with the pathological changes caused by hypertension and aortic valve stenosis. However, the exact effects of exercise on the structure and function of the heart depend on the type, intensity and duration of exercise, the amount of physical fitness, inheritance, and gender. Materials and Methods In this prospective clinical trial study, 40 subjects, including 20 in the endurance exercise group and 20 in the exercise group, were evaluated. Echocardiography was performed for all of these subjects before and after the exercises that was performed professionally for 8 weeks under the supervision of the trainer and the changes were recorded. The data were analyzed statistically by SPSS20 software. A significant level of 0.05 was considered. Results The mean ± standard deviation of the age was 20/80 ± 1/42 years. Significant decrease in mean RVSM was observed only in the strength group (P = 0.008). There was no significant difference in the endurance group . There was no significant difference between the two groups before the test in the mean TAPSE (P = 0.46). The mean of TAPSE in the endurance group was 0.22 ± 1.99 and in the strength group was 0.31 ± 1.95. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P 0.46). There was no significant difference between the two groups before the test in the mean E / e (P = 0.51). The mean E / e "in the endurance group was 0.47 ± 4.75 and in the strength group was 0.54 ± 5.50, and there was a significant difference between the two groups (P <0.001). The mean SWDT in the endurance group was 0.12 ± 0.95 and in the strength group was 0.11 ± 1.06, and there was a significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.002). There was a significant increase in mean SWDT in the strength group after the test (P <0.001) .There was a significant increase in mean PAP in the strength group (P = 0.007) . There was a significant increase in mean LV mass index in the strength group (P <0.001),with no significant difference between the two groups in mean FAC. Conclusion It seems that any kind of strength and endurance exercise affects the performance status, however, strength exercises have more effects which causes RV dysfunction. All indexes measured changed within normal level except for PAP that had abnormal changes after endurance exercise .

Against terrorism. Knowledge is power. The contribution of criminology

Terrorism is defined as the series of actions carried out in the context of armed struggles intended not only to attack the opposing armed forces, but to spread fear, distress and insecurity among the civilian populations. Terrorism has always been used to weaken the will resistances of its enemies". Islamic terrorism has a recent origin. We must start by saying that the use of word Islamic is commonly used, but the correct terminology would be Islamist terrorism. It arises from an ideology, in its most extreme meaning, and in this ideology finds the greatest justification for carrying out terrorist acts. The core, therefore, is the Islamic fundamentalist religion that justifies, encourages and supports the Jihad. What does it mean Jihad? Effort straining towards a purpose. The Quran indicates four ways to lead to Jihad:
 - Fight with the heart preceded by a self-purification against sin - Fight with the tongue to preach justice - Fight with the hand in the punishment of sin - Fight with the sword to teach the infidel
 What does Sharia (the way) and Khalifa (Caliph) and Shi'a (party) mean? How is tradition, that is the Sunnah, interpreted by the Ulama (wise)? How is the advent of the Mahadi (the Guided) described by the Imams (Imam means the one who precedes)? How can Criminology support? Meanwhile, analyzing the operational mode, then studying the propaganda (central passage of the jihadist phenomenon) to possibly give a hint of what might be the counter-propaganda of the strategies. Propaganda, fundamental issue of cyberwar made by Islamist terrorism, must be studied as propaganda to the masses (through web and production companies), to small groups (in mosques during their sermons and in schools with educational programs reworked and unstructured) and face to face in the process of recruitment and radicalization. It is interesting to look at the training and brain washing processes that are used on the subject, radicalizing to complete the radicalization work. And interesting can be analyzed the arsenal of Isis, the origin of it and the origin of the weapons. If the analysis of economic flows can lead to the identification of illicit, can the analysis of mental flows lead to the identification, in this case, of the potential jihadist, of the recruiting or of the radicalized? Who can be and where could the recruiters be? Are people dedicated to recruitment and radicalization with specific knowledge or are they impromptu people? From what can find the response and for what reason? And who are the people at risk of radicalization? Who could be people already introduced? And the people already introduced what behavior do they have? And where are they located or where could they be found or where do they think they can meet? And how do they aggregate? And according to their ideology, how could they organize themselves and what could they do? And how could they do it? In this delicate task it will be essential to analyze the profiling of the terrorist, to trace the places with geographical profiling, to have all kinds of information with sociological and cultural profiling, to understand the language, to enter as much as possible in the jihadist culture, to evaluate the type of subject that can be radicalized, to have any kind of information about the radicalized subject, to consider the role of women and the motivation for their involvement, to evaluate enslavement and brainwashing on children and adults. The purpose of this work is to try to enter the mind of the Islamic terrorist or of the potential terrorist in order to bring a contribution, as criminologists, in the mechanism of counternarrative at various levels, to reach a possible help in the mechanism of deradicalization both as intervention of primary prevention (namely, before the process of radicalization begins), secondary (after a process of radicalization has already begun), or tertiary (addressed to subjects towards whom only the abandonment of violent ideology or, at least, the disengagement can be proceeded). Discussion. The multidisciplinary approach could be the solution to finding a way for understanding and coexistence of various cultures. Islamic culture is a culture far from the Occidental one and requires in-depth studies to understand it and to ensure that its most extreme meaning does not damage the fundamental human rights. The criminology, as a subject of investigation of the mind, can be a key approach of prevention or deradicalization of Islamist terrorism. To penetrate such an intricate and delicate problem, every kind of strength and knowledge is important and fundamental to restoring balance, peace and serenity in the world.

Mickey Mantle: The Commerce Comet by Jonah Winter

Reviewed by: Mickey Mantle: The Commerce Comet by Jonah Winter Elizabeth Bush Winter, Jonah Mickey Mantle: The Commerce Comet; illus. by C. F. Payne. Schwartz & Wade, 2017 [34p] Library ed. ISBN 978-1-101-93353-4 $20.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-101-93352-7 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 3-5 Here, kids, is the guy your grandparents talk about from back in the day: the Yankee switch hitter who demolished records; the slugger who inspired the term “tape measure home run”; the Mick. In Winter’s latest entry in his string of picture-book baseball bios, however, Mantle’s also the guy who was pushed into baseball by his demanding father, and who realized his talent was diminished following an on-field injury: “Turns out Mickey’s right knee has basically become detached from his ligaments. . . . After this, he would never be as fast, and he would always be in pain.” If kids read the author’s note facing the title page, they’ll learn the tragedy behind the legend, that Mantle was sexually abused as a child, struggled with alcoholism as an adult, and was a professional disappointment to Yankee manager Casey Stengel. Given this complicated history, there is a tone of something close to melancholy that darkens this title and sets it apart from Winter’s works on Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, etc. Even Payne’s signature monumental caricatures, which often evoke grins and chuckles, do not mask the pain, nor should they. Mantle’s story is about a different kind of strength than power hitting: “To watch a guy do what he did, with that body, could take your breath away.” Copyright © 2017 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Estimation of Reconstructed Strength of Disturbed Biologically Cemented Sand Under Unconfined Compression Tests

One of the most important characteristics of soils is their resistance to structural loads. Improvement of mechanical properties of soils can help to control soil stresses and deformations. There are different methods for this purpose. One of the latest methods for stabilization of soils, which is a combination of chemistry and biological sciences, is the use of calcium carbonate microbiological sediment as a suitable injection material. In this study, the effects of using a bacterium spore called Bacillus pasteurii and production of biological deposition of calcium carbonate on improvement of the mechanical properties of sandy soils through the production of sandstone have been investigated. According to the results, when the calcium chloride in Bacillus pasteurii matrix is injected into the sandy soils, the strength of these soils increases. After this kind of cementation, an increase of considerable amount of water content, which is a kind of disturbance in the samples, can reduce the bio-cemented strength. This time, if we let the samples go for a period of time (about 24 h), the soil will revert to some part of its former strength and it can modify itself. This kind of strength is called reconstructed strength in this study. This research is designed to investigate the reconstructed strength of bio-cemented sands under unconfined compression tests. Results of the study show the strength of disturbed bio-cemented samples is sensitive to the void ratio.

When Theory and Research Collide: Examining Correlates of Signature Strengths Use at Work

Signature strengths are individuals’ highest-ranked strengths, those that they own, celebrate, and frequently exercise. Their use has been theorized to elicit positive affect, and contribute significantly to individuals’ functioning and well-being. The present study examined two elements of these ideas in the work arena: (a) Associations of strengths use at work with work outcomes (work meaningfulness, engagement, job satisfaction, performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and counterproductive work behaviors), focusing on differences in the associations of signature-strengths use, lowest-strengths use, and happiness strengths-use at work; (b) The role of positive affect in mediating these associations. The results, based on self-reports of an international sample of 1031 working individuals, generally indicated that the use of all kinds of strengths had positive correlates. As expected, using signature strengths had the highest, robust unique contribution to behavioral outcomes (performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and lower counterproductive work behavior). But unexpectedly, using happiness strengths (and not signature strengths) had the highest, robust unique contribution to psycho-emotional work-related outcomes (work meaningfulness, engagement, and job satisfaction). Positive affect mediated the association between strengths use and all work-related outcomes for the three kinds of strengths, when each was examined separately. However, when uses of the three kinds of strengths were examined together, positive affect mediated the effects of lowest strengths use and those of happiness strengths use, but not the effects of signature strengths use. These findings highlight the differential benefits of using different kinds of strengths, and suggest that additional (and different) mechanisms may underlie these effects.

Kawaii, kenosis, Verwindung: A reading of kawaii through Vattimo’s philosophy of ‘weak thought’

Abstract Kawaii is different from the western cute because it may also include ‘cool’. The paradoxical coexistence of weakness and strength, of cute and cool, is interesting in philosophical terms. Kawaii is not simply weak but equipped with its own kind of strength. In this article, I explore kawaii by using philosophical ideas linked to the paradigm of ‘strength out of weakness’ that appears in the so-called ‘weak thought’ philosophy of Gianni Vattimo. The Heideggerian term Verwindung (twisting) as it is used by Vattimo, is at the centre of this analysis. Vattimo’s philosophy is also based on the Christian idea of kenosis, a classic theological term that can be translated as ‘weakening’. Feminist theologians use the concept of kenosis in order to ‘feminize’ theology. It is in this context that kawaii can be shown as bringing together such antagonistic qualities as submission and subversion. Vattimo’s Verwindung describes the effect of distortion to which gender distinctions are submitted through the impact of kawaii. As a result, kawaii should be seen as femininity without metanarratives because kawaii strips feminist gestures of their metaphysical features.

Nazariyat Ibnu Bajah ‘an al-Nafs

The soul is one of the central issues focused on by prominent Muslim philosophers due to its crucial role in constructing thoughts, acts, and human behaviour. One of these eminent philosopher was Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Yahya bin Bajah or who is more commonly known as Ibnu Bajah. Although he discussed the soul at great length, he did not explicitly define what it is, such as what other philosophers had tried to do. However, Ibnu Bajah expressed what is known about the soul by the improvements of al-Jism al-‘Ali (the Automatic Body), which has 4 kinds of strengths: to consume, to sense, to move, and to talk. Man with these in one word herit strengths are able to direct his body to grow and live in order to fulfill his physical needs, and at the same time pursue and attain information, knowledge, and understanding. It is important to acknowledge that the human mind reaches its perfection with the aid of rational knowledge. The rational knowledge enables them to understand the matter essentially, and when man may attain ultimate happiness. Therefore human perfection is the combination and interrelation between the active mind and rational view working together. This correlation will be attained gradually, with knowledge representing rational objects from material objects, then transcending it to relate with the active mind. Human knowledge then begins from the sense of representation of the object physically, abstracting its representation by the power of imagination, interpreting the meaning in the mind from the senses. Thus if will deliver humans to the right knowledge of himself and the active mind.

Effect of strength and ductility on deformation and fracture of three kinds of aluminum alloys during Taylor tests

The mechanical property of projectile material, especially the strength and ductility, will greatly affect the deformation and damage of a kinetic energy projectile in the process of penetration. This paper presents a comparison methodology concerning the deformation and fracture behavior of kinetic energy projectiles with three kinds of strength and ductility manufactured from 1100, 6061 and 2A12 aluminum alloy bars. In the experiments, flat-nosed projectiles were fired using a two-stage light gas gun against hard steel plates within the velocity range of 150–600 m/s. Experimental results showed that there are different deformation and fracture modes for the three kinds of projectiles within different velocity ranges. With the increasing of impact velocity, deformation and fracture modes for each kind of projectile are listed as follows, respectively: mushrooming, tensile splitting and sunflower-like petalling for 1100 projectiles with high ductility; mushrooming, shear cracking, shear petalling and petals falling off for 6061 projectiles with medium ductility; mushrooming, shearing cracking and fragmentation for 2A12 projectiles with low ductility. In order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the influence of strength and ductility on material fracture mechanism, microscopic observations of typical fracture surfaces were conducted by a scanning electron microscope (SEM).

Toward Best Practices in Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed- Method Research: A Social Justice Perspective

Various research methods can be appropriate for social justice aims. Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches offer different kinds of strengths in advancing a social justice agenda. This article recaptures and expands upon the ideas presented by the authors of this special issue, recommending best practices in research for social justice in the following areas: (a) cultural competence and the role of the researcher(s); (b) formulating the focus of the research; (c) selection of the underlying paradigm and research method/design; (d) the research team: formation, process, and issues of power; (e) power and relationship with research participants; and (f) data gathering, analysis, and reporting.

The Experimental Research of low strength Concrete Considering Strain Rate under Uniaxial Compression

The tests were implemented in low strength concrete with four kinds of strength (C20, C25, C30, C35) and with diffrent strain ratses (10-5/s-1, 10-4/s-1, 10-3/s-1 and 10-2/s-1. The stress-strain curves, strength, elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio are studied in different strain rate. The results show that: (1) With the increase of strain rate, the inflexion strength and ultimate strength of concrete were improved; (2) With the increase of strain rate, the static and dynamic elastic modulus increased slightly; (3) Poisson's ratio increased slightly with the growth strain rate. This conclusion is very important in civil engineering.

Run: A Novel

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewFull AccessRun: A NovelJaak Rakfeldt Ph.D.Jaak Rakfeldt Ph.D.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:13 Jan 2015https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2008.59.12.1482AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail An accident, on a snowy night in Boston, mysteriously draws together fragments of a family that are detailed over the course of 24 hours."There were three separate hits. They were so close together that someone who was not directly involved might not have been able to see them distinctly, but for Kenya time slowed down and gave her the chance to think of each one as its own act of a play. In the first, her mother left her on the sidewalk and ran to the older boy, Tip. She blindsided him with the full force of her body, the momentum of the blow knocking him very nearly clear of the car. The second one was the car hitting her mother, and this hit was made up of many smaller hits: her hip against the high front fender—BANG—her chest against the hood—BANG—and then she rolled up until her head struck the windshield with a single crack, just in the moment when the car slid to a stop. … Her mother's head leaves the windshield, her body rolls backwards across the hood, and then she falls to the ground with a wet, heavy thump and lies there, facedown in the snow in front of the tires of a light-colored SUV."The accident occurred while Tip had been walking with his father after having been dragged to a political speech by Jesse Jackson at the Kennedy Center. Tip might well have been killed had it not been for this woman, a stranger, who had leaped out of the darkness and had shoved him away to safety. She is African American. She is taken to the hospital, leaving her 11-year-old daughter, Kenya, alone.Ex-mayor of Boston, Bernard Doyle, has nurtured his three sons—the prodigal son Sullivan, 33, and adopted African Americans, Tip, 21, and Teddy, 20—since the death over 15 years earlier of his wife, Bernadette. Then, on that snowy evening, Tip, distracted and angry at Doyle, steps out in front of a car only to be pushed out of the way by this African-American woman, who turns out to be the adopted boys' birth mother. Moreover, she had been surreptitiously watching the boys for years, along with her own daughter, Kenya. They live very near Doyle's stately home in a public housing project. Doyle allows Kenya to stay with them and she is reunited with her two biological brothers. The story revolves around the intricate dynamics that ensue. Run is about family and the infinitely complex ways in which family members weave into and intersect with each other. Patchett describes interesting and compelling people: Doyle, who is sentimental, tough, willful, and generous; Tip, who is purposeful and inflexible; Teddy, who is warm and kind; and Kenya, a talented runner, blessed with "strength, grace, concentration"; and Sullivan, impudent and eccentric, the prodigal son who comes home and, despite his father's qualms and misgivings, provides his own kind of strength and vigor during this time of familial upheaval and uncertainty. Dealing as it does with convoluted and intense family relationships, as well as with class, race, privilege, and poverty within contemporary American society, Run would be of interest to the readers of Psychiatric Services . Dr. Rakfeldt is professor in the Social Work Department, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven. FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 59Issue 12 December, 2008Pages 1482-1482PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES December 2008 Volume 59 Number 12 Metrics PDF download History Published online 13 January 2015 Published in print 1 December 2008

Run: A Novel

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewFull AccessRun: A NovelJaak Rakfeldt Ph.D.Jaak Rakfeldt Ph.D.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:13 Jan 2015https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2008.59.12.1482AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail An accident, on a snowy night in Boston, mysteriously draws together fragments of a family that are detailed over the course of 24 hours."There were three separate hits. They were so close together that someone who was not directly involved might not have been able to see them distinctly, but for Kenya time slowed down and gave her the chance to think of each one as its own act of a play. In the first, her mother left her on the sidewalk and ran to the older boy, Tip. She blindsided him with the full force of her body, the momentum of the blow knocking him very nearly clear of the car. The second one was the car hitting her mother, and this hit was made up of many smaller hits: her hip against the high front fender—BANG—her chest against the hood—BANG—and then she rolled up until her head struck the windshield with a single crack, just in the moment when the car slid to a stop. … Her mother's head leaves the windshield, her body rolls backwards across the hood, and then she falls to the ground with a wet, heavy thump and lies there, facedown in the snow in front of the tires of a light-colored SUV."The accident occurred while Tip had been walking with his father after having been dragged to a political speech by Jesse Jackson at the Kennedy Center. Tip might well have been killed had it not been for this woman, a stranger, who had leaped out of the darkness and had shoved him away to safety. She is African American. She is taken to the hospital, leaving her 11-year-old daughter, Kenya, alone.Ex-mayor of Boston, Bernard Doyle, has nurtured his three sons—the prodigal son Sullivan, 33, and adopted African Americans, Tip, 21, and Teddy, 20—since the death over 15 years earlier of his wife, Bernadette. Then, on that snowy evening, Tip, distracted and angry at Doyle, steps out in front of a car only to be pushed out of the way by this African-American woman, who turns out to be the adopted boys' birth mother. Moreover, she had been surreptitiously watching the boys for years, along with her own daughter, Kenya. They live very near Doyle's stately home in a public housing project. Doyle allows Kenya to stay with them and she is reunited with her two biological brothers. The story revolves around the intricate dynamics that ensue. Run is about family and the infinitely complex ways in which family members weave into and intersect with each other. Patchett describes interesting and compelling people: Doyle, who is sentimental, tough, willful, and generous; Tip, who is purposeful and inflexible; Teddy, who is warm and kind; and Kenya, a talented runner, blessed with "strength, grace, concentration"; and Sullivan, impudent and eccentric, the prodigal son who comes home and, despite his father's qualms and misgivings, provides his own kind of strength and vigor during this time of familial upheaval and uncertainty. Dealing as it does with convoluted and intense family relationships, as well as with class, race, privilege, and poverty within contemporary American society, Run would be of interest to the readers of Psychiatric Services . Dr. Rakfeldt is professor in the Social Work Department, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven. FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 59Issue 12 December, 2008Pages 1482-1482PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES December 2008 Volume 59 Number 12 Metrics PDF download History Published online 13 January 2015 Published in print 1 December 2008

콘크리트 직접인장강도의 세장비 효과

Although concrete members are not normally designed to resist direct tension, the knowledge of tensile strength is of value in estimating the cracking load. In general, there are three types of test method for tensile strength ; direct tension test, flexural tension test, and splitting tension test. Though direct tensile strength represents the real tensile strength of concrete, direct tension tests are seldom carried out, mainly because it is very difficult to applicate a pure tension force. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the test methods, effect of aspect ratio, and the size effect on the direct tensile strength. Direct tension test, using bonded end plates, follows RILEM and U.S.Bureau of Reclamation. And other test methods follow ASTM provisions. Four kinds of aspect ratio and two kinds of size effect are tested. Same variables are tested by direct tension test and splitting tension test for comparison between the two test methods. Test results show that direct tensile strength of concrete is more affected by aspect ratio and size than other kinds of strength.

A New Korean Corpus-Based Text-to-Speech System

This paper describes a new Korean Text-to-Speech (TTS) system based on a large speech corpus. Conventional concatenative TTS systems still produce machine-like synthetic speech. The poor naturalness is caused by excessive prosodic modification using a small speech database. To cope with this problem, we utilized a dynamic unit selection method based on a large speech database without prosodic modification. The proposed TTS system adopts triphones as synthesis units. We designed a new sentence set maximizing phonetic or prosodic coverage of Korean triphones. All the utterances were segmented automatically into phonemes using a speech recognizer. With the segmented phonemes, we achieved a synthesis unit cost of zero if two synthesis units were placed consecutively in an utterance. This reduces the number of concatenating points that may occur due to concatenating mismatches. In this paper, we present data concerning the realization of major prosodic variations through a consideration of prosodic phrase break strength. The phrase break was divided into four kinds of strength based on pause length. Using phrase break strength, triphones were further classified to reflect major prosodic variations. To predict phrase break strength on texts, we adopted an HMM-like Part-of-Speech (POS) sequence model. The performance of the model showed 73.5% accuracy for 4-level break strength prediction. For unit selection, a Viterbi beam search was performed to find the most appropriate triphone sequence, which has the minimum continuation cost of prosody and spectrum at concatenating boundaries. From the informal listening test, we found that the proposed Korean corpus-based TTS system showed better naturalness than the conventional demisyllable-based one.

Bone quality parameters of the distal radius as assessed by pQCT in normal and fractured women.

The aim of this study was to test the ability of some indicators of different aspects of bone quality (assessed by peripheral quantitative computed tomography in the distal radius) to discriminate between fractured and nonfractured individuals. The study compared 214 women aged 45-85 years, free of any bone-affecting treatment, of whom 107 had suffered a Colles' fracture in the previous 6 months and 107 did not. The determinations included bone tissue or mineral 'mass' indicators (trabecular, cortical and total volumetric mineral content, cortical bone area); bone 'density' estimates (trabecular, cortical and total volumetric mineral density), and the Cartesian (rectangular) and polar moments of inertia as influences of cross-sectional architecture on resistance to bending and torsional loads, respectively. The influences of body height, weight and age on the tomographic indicators were minimized by adjusting the data according to the partial coefficients of multiple stepwise regressions. The adjusted values of all the indicators were lower in fractured than in nonfractured groups. The prevalence of fractures was directly related to the actual values of the indicators, rather than the age or body habitus of the individuals. The significance of these differences between the assessed indicators decreased in the following order: trabecular 'mass' > trabecular 'density' > cortical or total 'mass' > cortical architecture > total or cortical 'density' indicators. Within the same type of bone, the tissue or mineral 'mass' indicators performed better than the 'density' indicators. The cortical bone density did not give useful information, probably because of technical difficulties. Odds-ratios and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analyses confirmed those features. The selected 'cut-off' values of the indicators as determined by the ROC curves (very close to those determined by the inflexion points of the logistic reression curves) may indicate reference limits to detect persons at risk of fracture according to the type of information provided by each variable. These results show that these tomographic indicators discriminate well between fractured and nonfractured individuals, and should be suitable to assess how total, cortical and trabecular bone strength in the distal radius could affect different kinds of strength regardless of the age or body habitus of the individual. Their ability to estimate fracture risk from different biomechanical points of view should be assessed by adequately designed, prospective studies.

Knowledge-based maneuver and fire support planning

Maneuver and Fire Support Planner (MFSP) is an expert system which allows edition and evaluation of an Operational Plan. Firstly, it adopts the synchronization matrix metaphor by means of a Gantt chart addressed to the Army, where the user can manipulate military units and tasks. Secondly, it enables the user to run the plan paying special attention to essential parameters of the battlefield such as terrain, mobility, various kinds of strength, effectiveness, etc. As the capability is twofold, MFSP has been designed as a pair of agents belonging to a distributed supra-organization. With MFSP, the user defines (or updates) maneuver and fire support military tasks and then simulates their effects. This process can be repeated as many times as needed until the evolution of the battle satisfies the command team's expectations. MFSP speeds up the command and control process and produces better quality plans, thus preventing operational, tactical, logistic, etc. problems. It also allows war-gaming, as you can play your plan against the machine, which is driven by the “Doctrine” knowledge base. In fact, MFSP has a knowledge-based design, meaning that modules containing domain knowledge are separated from the control-methods. Knowledge bases can be populated with rules and constraints defined in accordance with the commander's expertise, features of the scenario, and operational area. Further MFSP combines both the fuzzy and the production rules with constraint programming and real-time search to reason about the tactical picture. Finally, an extension of the search algorithm achieves anytime calculation of optimal routes.